"Did you trailer it?" he asked​
 

Memorial weekend I made a 250 mile road trip to Amarillo Dragway for a little TNT and a street car shootout. Cruised @ 75-80 mph on the interstate with the a/c blowing getting 18 mpg. Pretty pleased about that! Get there and get in line to get tech done. Guy ask "did you trailer it here?" I tell him hell no, drove it here, gonna run the piss out of it and drive it back home hopefully without breaking it. Bunch of old school racer guys standing around say "F*** an A, that's what it's about!" Cool bunch of guys.

Shootout is a 11.49 index or slower class, no full slicks, stock chassis and must be registered for road. Pretty much anything else goes. What the heck, I got a chance at this. Make a couple of practice passes and developed fuel delivery issue(RobbMc pump was hurt) with the car nosing over about 150ft from the stripe. I need more seat time for sure(like watching my shift light & quit short shifting). I make it 3 rounds and to the semi-final with 3 of us left. One guy draws a bye and I get paired up with a C6 Z06 Vette with methanol injection. Still with fuel issues, I run 12.35 @ 102 with a 1.7 60ft. Wasn't enough for the Vette, but he doesn't catch me till half track. He breaks out in the final. Air my drag radials back up and head home. I'll be back for sure, next time very close to the index for sure. This is what it's about, owning and enjoying a classic like we all have. What a fun day...

1ST round
https://youtu.be/ixQQYrK8lbE
Semi round
https://youtu.be/JLcNs8pFhCY

That's very nice!

Good job on it.
Congrats on the runs.

:)

Nice job. car sounds great. Get the fuel issue sorted and it should be a super consistent car. Not many people willing to drive a car a few hours and then have at it on the track. Sounds like the car is well built and you have a lot of confidence in it. Great job!!

Sweet! That's how it should be!

Congratulations!

Nicely done!

Beautiful car, being used the way Pontiac intended. There are fewer and fewer guys like you every year. Enjoy.

That is so cool! Thank you for sharing, it's awesome to see someone not afraid to use their car!

Nice story!

Reminds me of my 20's driving the Mach 1 to the track (Penwell!) and back... usually after being put out in the first round... and never as quick as your car.... but FUN!

Very nice! Driving it like it's supposed to be driven! I drove my '72 tens of thousands of miles when I lived in Lubbock a few years back.

nice job!!

Very cool, GTO Tex! You did well! It's very satisfying to show up, abuse it, and drive home.
20 years ago I drove my Hurst/Olds down to Road Atlanta. I think it was a 10 hour drive. During the Walter Mitty Challenge I got to beat on it mercilessly on Sunday morning, then I drove it home.

Proves that the old apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Was the Carter booster pump doing its job? Your dad had problems with the RobMc not being able to supply enough fuel until we put on the pusher pump to help out.

I've had good luck running my drag radials around 24psi at the track. Bunch of 1.5x 60' times between my old 67 Firebird and '69 Falcon wagon. At that pressure, I didn't even have to add pressure to drive home.

I remember running against an open-header trailered car with slicks at the Houston (Baytown) track in my Firebird. He took me off the line, but I drove around him by half-track and eliminated him. I looked over as I passed him, and remember him having a shocked look on his face that a street car was outrunning him.

About an hour later I'm driving home, and drive past him again with his car on the trailer. I look over, and he again had the same shocked look on his face :-)

Awesome! Don't see many people pull slicks out of the trunk like me at my track which is 45 mins away.

That's a funny story Lee!

I remember Les "wheelspin" drove his grand prix from California to Ennis for a Southern Nat's event.

With the Carter running it was nosing over about 150ft from the stripe and coasting through. Not sure what happened to the RobbMc because a couple of test runs went good. Thinking too that fuel level possibly was getting lower than the car liked. Got home & tested pressure and was only getting 3psi max from the mechanical pump & 6psi with the carter. RobbMc possibly returning too much fuel.

He also drove this GTO to Tulsa for a POCI national and then to Texas Motorplex for a HPP magazine performance shootout the car was featured in. That was in 2005 and the car was running 13's with tri-power installed. Don't know how many John Force burnouts he did to get the magazine pics. Goes to show how well he built the car. It's been driven from LA to St. Louis, displayed in show, raced and driven home. Same type of trips to CO, OK, TX, OR that I know of. Wheelspin & I are planning on doing the the big one next year, making the journey to Norwalk with this old girl.

That would be cool.

:)

I've seen Les with 3 of his cars at Pontiac heaven. Drives there in A/C comfort, races, drives home.

George

I got to meet Les at Atlanta Dragway in 2005. It stood out to me because I knew he was from CA, and I had just transferred from CA to GA. He drove that Grand Prix across the country, to attend the POCI event that year, and I Think he had his wife with him on that road trip.

I used to drive my Firebird from Port Angeles WA to Bremerton WA and race for the day, and then drive home. I didn't like doing it, but I didn't have a trailer or a truck to pull it. I remember it got 10 MPG no matter how I drove it, so it took a tank of gas to get there and a tank to get home.

Good times!

I had a similar experience. Drove 100 miles in 96* heat each way. Ran at a FAST style event for the first time. Wound up winning the entire thing! It was an amazing day! Then drove it home. In a summer rain storm. WITHOUT A/C! Didn't care at all because I was too happy!

Here's some vids:

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...nlongvideo.mp4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vk7OlLcqu4

I used to drive my car to the track, about a 200 mile round trip. I always said if I can drive it home, I had a successful night. Always did.

2018 Norwalk with my son and his GTO...
 

"Wheelspin & I are planning on doing the the big one next year, making the journey to Norwalk with this old girl."

I can't wait, Mike !!

Man, that's sweet. Sounds like it ran pretty damned well to me. FUN.

Gorgeous '66 in a rarely-seen color combo. Really nice. Great story, thanks for the post!

Cars are meant to be driven
 

One of the first things I ask when someone calls about transport:

" Are you going to drive the car ? "

If yes - then I encourage them to drive out if possible with another car
and a buddy - make it a road trip - ot fly out & drive home.

Sometimes that is not possible.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...7&d=1497564044

Cars are meant to be driven.


Jim

Update. After having fuel issues on the last outing, the car is dialed in now. While at POCI this past week, we made a little side trip over to Texas Motorplex for a little tnt on Friday. Best runs and new best were thrown down. In 100 degree heat the car ran a 11.685 @ 116.2 mph. I was pretty happy!

Wow, I had no idea Amarillo was still a working track. I was last there in 1988 to watch my engine builder race. The place was a dump then, really needed some $$$ spent on it. Couldn't believe at the time NHRA was allowing a divisional event to be held there....

A guy that worked at my Dad's Skelly station in 60's had a 66, same color. In Eastern Iowa.
He traded it in on a new 68 GTO which was that medium blue color